Hartford Public Library (HPL) is one of 62 organizations nationwide selected to receive a 2023-2024 NEA Big Read grant. The grant will support a community reading program focusing on Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. The Big Read programming series will kick off with an author event with Yaa Gyasi at the 5th Annual Hartford Book Festival on Saturday, September 23, 2023.

As an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience.

Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi 

International Bestseller | Winer of the National Book Critics Circle’s Jon Leonard Prize | Winer of the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction

One of Oprah’s Best Books of the Year, Homegoing follows the parallel paths of sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.

Nana Akua Goes to School 
by Tricia Elam Walker

Winner of the 2021 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award!

In this moving story that celebrates cultural diversity, a shy girl brings her West African grandmother–whose face bears traditional tribal markings–to meet her classmates. This is a perfect read for back to school!